Eclectic Mix at the Variety Merchandise Show

Let's see how many variations of the word variety I can use in this blog post, shall we? It took me a bit longer to see all of the ASD/AMD Variety Merchandise Show in Las Vegas, as it was spread out over two locations: the Sands Expo Center and the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

At the Sands, animatronic men greeted buyers as they walked in the door and demonstrated how wide-ranging (there's the first one!) the products can be at this show. Booths with toys, decorations, kitchen supplies, shoes, leather goods, fake plants and flowers, scarves and perfume, among other items, were spread throughout this location. The exhibitors at the Sands focused on Fashion Accessories and Variety Merchandise and reported that the number of buyers picked up after a slow start on Sunday.

"We've had a lot of previous customers stop by," said Paul Park, of Vernon, Calif.-based Costar International Enterprises (Booth #S3823). The company has been coming to ASD/AMD shows for more than 15 years and sells high-quality costume jewelry and fashion accessories. Set-up started on Friday for them, and they had decorated their booth with ribbon and more.

Speaking of ribbons and bows, I stopped by the colorful booth of Creative Ideas (Booth #S3927) of Los Angeles, which sells ribbons and gift packaging supplies. Representative Martha Estrada said that they also attend craft and hobby shows, but the nice thing about the ASD/AMD Variety Merchandise show, in addition to meeting the great buyers, is "you don't see the same thing in every aisle."

That diversity is what makes this show unique and as we move over to Mandalay Bay, we move from ribbons and fake flowers to tools and hardware. At Mandalay Bay, the Variety Show is broken down into five Specialized Sections: Tools and Hardware, Military, Tactical and Outdoor, Value Apparel, Closeouts and General Merchandise.

Kole Imports, which has been exhibiting with ASD/AMD since 1981, was the first booth as you walked into the Convention Center and I spoke with President Danny Kole about the show so far.

"Traffic was good yesterday," he said, which was a pleasant surprise on the first day. And the buyers he spoke to were ready to do business. "This is the one show that still brings in buyers aggressively looking for deals. It's not a walk-and-look show. People are here to buy."

While the crowd seemed slower as I walked around on Monday morning, exhibitors told me traffic had been good.

"We wrote a nice amount of orders yesterday," said David Hakim, a representative of Juice Air Fresheners and Zeeray LLC (Booth #B2590). The company was promoting its new Juice brand and Hakim did a great job of telling me all about the innovative products, which include great taglines that promote the products. "We just launched this line this year," he said. "This is our first show."

Mandalay Bay was also where other closeout and wholesale companies like Kole Imports set up the giant booths lined with an eclectic mix of items, at deep discounted prices. The Closeout section was complemented by Value Apparel, which included everything ranging from trendy tops and unique dresses to basics like undershirts and socks, the MTO Show, which I'll blog about tomorrow, General Merchandise and Tools and Hardware (pictured below).

Buyers like Jimmie Brannen, from High Plains Sportsman Club of Colorado Springs, Colo., expressed interest in the great prices and the wide selection of items. "I don't think there is anything you can't find here," Brannen told me. "I've learned over five years that this show can really help you make a lot of money."

Buyers, do you agree? If you were at the show, what did you think? The Mandalay Bay location was a change from the Las Vegas Convention Center; did you like it? Were the Specialized Sections helpful? And how many times did I use a word or a phrase meaning the same thing as "variety"?

Comments

[Jason Atkins]

The show has changed a lot from the original start back many years ago ... The concept was more of a " closeout " or " surplus " merchandise show ... It now is more of an " import " show and has turned away many people from attending , espically from my company and we have over 6,000 plus stores... In speaking with many buyers they found less and less closeout deals at the show ... The location at Mandalay Bay was better and more friendly though ... If anyone wants to contact me about my comments please feel free to call the corporate office or e-mail me directly .....

[Justin Cole]

Great show....